We've Always Been Here
A few weeks ago, I ran into an old friend I hadn’t seen in years. We were chatting away, catching up, when the conversation took one of those turns that makes you quietly hold your breath. He started talking about “what the world’s coming to”, men in makeup, women dressing like men, “nobody knowing what they are anymore.”
I smiled and listened, because little did he know, I was one of the people he was talking about. I’ve been dressing as female since I was nine years old. And while he thought it was all some new “modern madness,” the truth is… it’s anything but new.
Humanity has always been beautifully complex. If we look back through history, there are countless examples of people who didn’t fit neatly into the boxes of “male” or “female” and were often respected for it.
One of the earliest known examples comes from a Neolithic burial site near Prague, around 4,500 years ago. Archaeologists discovered a male skeleton laid to rest with what were considered female grave goods. To modern eyes, that might look like an early sign of someone living and being honoured outside traditional gender roles.
And it’s not an isolated story. Across the ancient world, gender diversity was not only accepted but celebrated. In India, Hijra have been recognised for over 2,000 years neither strictly male nor female, but a third gender with deep cultural and spiritual importance. In Native American cultures, Two-Spirit people held respected roles as healers and teachers long before Christianity arrived and labelled such identities as “sinful.”
Even in other corners of the world, from the Fa’afafine of Samoa to the sworn virgins of the Balkans history reminds us that gender has never been as black-and-white as some would like to believe.
It was really only with the spread of Western religion and colonialism that these identities were forced underground. But the stories didn’t disappear, they were just silenced for a while.
And now, as the world starts to open up again, it’s easy to think this is something “new.” But when you look back, you see it’s actually something ancient, something deeply human.
Today’s transgender and cross-dressing communities are continuing a legacy that stretches back thousands of years. We’ve always been here. We’ve lived, loved, created, and expressed ourselves in every age.
So when someone says, “the world’s gone mad,” I can’t help but smile. No; the world’s just remembering who we are.
Be proud of your journey, wherever you are on it. You’re not an exception. You’re part of history.
